![catlove_thumbfit.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/catnet/ugy7r8Ab-catlove_thumbfit.png) # @catnet **the CAT network**

Hi, it's me, @fraenk, and I would like to take a moment of your time to let you know about my latest endeavor to make this blockchain the cuddliest of them all. ### Let's start with some Background. Most of you probably don't even know me, so let's first look back to about one and a half years in the past, when I started developing a cute, cuddly kitten bot called @steemkitten. Maybe you've met her? @steemkitten was made to be like a little stray kitten, roaming the blockchain autonomously, cuddling with random strangers that attract her sympathy, building relationships with those who reciprocate her affection and just generally spreading some fluffy vibes around here. After running a little [design contest](/designacharacter/@steemkitten/give-me-a-new-face-win-sbd-and-make-steemit-even-cuddlier) to give her a truly unique visual character, it eventually turned out that there would have to be three such kittens, and so, two more kitten-siblings came to live around these blocks. Ever since then, @steemkitten, @cuddlekitten and @steemeow have been roaming freely, seeking and spreading virtual hugs and cuddles all over. Each of them with their own unique character, building their own little network of friends around here. ![3kittens.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmaiLNQ6Vh7XQFiJESkQC1MBdVVJBtCMcvnzmccXQBWaMz/3kittens.png) ### The [dust](/dustbunny/@fraenk/let-s-talk-about-dust-and-a-bunny-and-briefly-mention-kittens-i-want-your-feedback) has settled. So far so good, the kittens are doing their thing and all is fine and dandy, right? Well, yeah, I guess it is, but the dust has kind of settled, quite literally so, in a blockchain sense of the word. Since the organic growth of the kittens is rather limited in nature, and the markets aren't very generous either, all too many of the kittens' lovely cuddles never get to create any real value, [lost as dust](/dustbunny/@fraenk/let-s-talk-about-dust-and-a-bunny-and-briefly-mention-kittens-i-want-your-feedback) between the blocks of this chain after day 7. So far the kittens have been able to enjoy lively support from my other fluffy bot, @dustbunny, who's making sure that at least a good portion of the kitten-cuddles actually materialize as rewards, but that bunny is going to struggle keeping up with the gravely intensified conditions looming after the upcoming hard-fork! ### There's a fork in the road. August 27 is approaching fast and the convergent linear rewards, included in the "economic improvements" within HF21, will basically turn all that cuddly dust into even smaller, possibly subatomic particles. So my plan here is to build up this @catnet account in order to be able to support the kittens on their mission, to eventually replace what @dustbunny is doing for them now, and maybe even go beyond that and support all other cat related content on steem. To help me get there, I have created [the CAT token on steem-engine](https://steem-engine.com/?p=market&t=CAT) ### Tokenizing Cat Appreciation Yes, yet another token, but bare with me, I'm not trying to sell you on some obscure token just to stuff my pockets. As a matter of fact, if you would go to steem-engine right now, you wouldn't even be able to buy a single token there. The first batch of cat appreciation tokens, CAT for short, will not be minted and distributed before tomorrow afternoon. Holding CAT in your steem-engine wallet will then work a bit like growing digital catnip in your steem-backyard, bedazzling all the kittens in your neighborhood to come by more frequently and check out what's growing there. A huge portion of the initial coin-supply will be airdropped to all the kittens' best friends, according to how much gratitude each kitten thinks it owes them. An equal amount of tokens will then be transferred to the kittens themselves and they will continue to hand out those CATs whenever they have a positive interaction with anyone on the blockchain. I will take a snapshot of the kittens' memories to build the final airdrop-ledger tomorrow, Saturday Aug 10, around noon UTC. That means you do have a couple of hours left to try and garner their sympathy if you so wanted to. Just saying ;) A small portion of tokens will also be put up as a sell-wall for a very reasonable price on the market, this should prevent pump-and-dump-style speculations with the token and any and all funds raised there will be used to stack up SP and further the development of this program. This post has gotten long enough already, but I will provide a deeper look, with some actual numbers and more details about the tokenomics of CAT after processing the initial airdrop tomorrow. [![cat token on steem-engine](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRUqnbWbiXVVeG2ci4fsmTo2mCvL2YB2ZVoBKsnRMKvXE/cat_token.png)](https://steem-engine.com/?p=market&t=CAT) ### And why go through all this effort just for a few cuddles? I believe the kitten-bots have brought many cute and positive experiences to hundreds of steemians already and I think we'd also do good in supporting cat-content in general, it's such an enigmatic part of internet culture and I want it to flourish on the steem-blockchain, too. Wikipedia and the internet in general would probably agree with me: > Images and videos of domestic cats make up some of the most viewed content on the web. Cats have been described as the "unofficial mascot of the Internet".^[1] Cats as human companions "are now sharing not only people's real life but also their virtual world" as a scientific study points out.^[2] > > The subject has attracted the attention of various scholars and critics, who have analysed why this form of art has reached iconic status. Although it may be considered frivolous, cat-related internet content contributes to how people interact with media and culture.^[3] Some argue that there is a depth and complexity to this seemingly simple content, with a suggestion that the positive psychological effects that pets have on their owners also holds true for cat images viewed online.^[4] > _{_{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cats_and_the_Internet}} *now go and cuddle some kittens!* *meow!*